The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, July 1935 - April, 1936 Page: 19
346 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The "Harriet Lane"
of a plot to allow the ship to pass out to be captured, with the
provision that her cotton would be reserved for the owners. But
on the dark night of April 30, 1864, fifteen months after her
capture, she crossed the bar secretly with three other blockade-
runners.
The gunboat Katahdin followed her in the darkness, failing to
signal to the other blockaders that anything was happening. In
the morning the Lane was gone from the harbor, and the Katahdin
from the Federal fleet, to the commodore's great distress. One of
the slowest of the blockaders, the Katahdin was unable to catch the
Lane, and gave up the chase, returning with her bunkers almost
empty. The I Harriet Lane made her way to Havana, where the
Spanish authorities detained her until the close of the war, de-
serted, dilapidated, and falling to pieces.
Finally diplomacy arranged that she would be again taken over
by the United States. As a fitting tribute to Captain Faunce, he
was sent with a complete crew to bring her back. The revenue
cutter McCulloch, stationed at New Orleans, received orders to
convoy her to New York, towing her if necessary.
When the captain went aboard his old ship at Havana, and from
the gangplank saw the havoc which had come to his pride, he shed
tears. Neglect, military necessity, and wanton damage had made
her seem a wreck. But he persisted, and she was brought to a
berth in Hoboken, across the river from New York. On thorough
examination she was found to be unfit for government service; her
engines were removed, and she was sold to a Boston owner, and
named for him the Elliott Ritchie. Rigged as a bark, with three
masts, she carried coastwise cargoes for years until, bound from
Brunswick, Georgia, to Buenos Aires with lumber, she was aban-
doned, probably off Pernambuco, sinking, on May 13, 1884.
A recent inquiry has disclosed that the museum of the Daughters
of the Confederacy, in the Old Land Office Building, in Austin,
has several relics of the Harriet Lane, regarded as items of his-
toric interest. There is a heavy brass-sheaved block, perhaps for
the topgallant halliards; a piece of carved mahogany from her
cabin; a grapeshot which was picked up in the streets of Gal-
veston after the fight; and a shell-incrusted cutlass-hilt brought
up from the harbor bottom by some fisherman. There is a sword,
reported to be that of Commodore Leon Smith, the leader of the
Confederate ships. With its leather scabbard, belt, and frog, it
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, July 1935 - April, 1936, periodical, 1936; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101095/m1/27/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.